This thought-provoking study offers an examination of six fourteenth-century writers who, for various reasons, developed influential views on contemporary political power and the Avignon Papacy. Through their written work, each of these authors introduces varying intellectual viewpoints on fourteenth-century theological and political controversies surrounding claims to, and uses of, both real and perceived power. As illustrated in the chapter titles, Dr. Unn Falkeid focuses on six primary authors--Dante, Marsilius of Padua, William of Ockham, Petrarch, Birgitta of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena. Her choice of authors is well-considered and allows for examinations of the individual authors and comparisons to be made between them, ultimately creating a framework with which to interpret the complicated context of the Avignon Papacy and its contemporary milieu. The six primary authors provide a means for comparison, not least because each author is distinctive in her or his social background and political views. In one schema, for instance, Falkeid notes that Marsilius and Ockham were deemed heretical, Birgitta and Catherine were each canonized, and Dante and Petrarch became leading examples of humanist principles for near-contemporary and later scholars (2). Ultimately, this study demonstrates that each author employed individual perspectives and personal ideals to comment strongly on contemporary religious and political culture within the larger context of the Avignon Papacy.
As indicated in her Introduction, Falkeid begins her study with particular literary works, including Dante'sParadiso VI, Monarchia, and Inferno VI, Marsilius' Defensor pacis, Ockham's Breviloquium, Petrarch's Letter disperse 8, Birgitta's Revelaciones, and Catherine's Dialogo della divina providenza. These works allow Falkeid to examine the Avignon Papacy and its political and theological context from a variety of contemporary perspectives and allow her to argue above all that the "particular situation created by the Avignon Papacy and by the cultured exchanges that took place...drove the intellectual and political debates in new and unexpected directions" (8-9). Additionally, the juxtaposition of these principal writings allows for the opportunity to examine how the authors themselves were sometimes closely aligned with each other and at times quite divergent in their views. The commonalities and dissimilarities among the ideas and arguments expressed by the six authors become a connective theme throughout the volume.
As Falkeid examines these authors and their selected works, she is able to offer contextual perspectives on each author, which are extremely useful for the general reader. At times, her analysis focuses on an individual author, thereby allowing her to explore the elements of the contemporary political world that motivated the particular author and helped to create her or his literary and political voice. An example of this deep analysis--and to this reader one of the most absorbing--is Falkeid's discussion of Ockham's views on the gift of reason, specifically the human ability to employ reason within the context of political and religious free will. Given the complexity of this intellectual subject, Falkeid's discussion of Ockham's contentions is remarkably clear and culminates with two pertinent questions. The first is raised by Ockham, who poses the question of who may judge a pope and, consequently, his decisions (88-89). Falkeid then addresses the scholarly discussion of whether or not Ockham's writings might be considered political, a question that still challenges modern scholars (89-92). Falkeid argues convincingly that while Ockham may certainly be considered a "nonpolitical or even antipolitical writer," an argument made by some modern scholars, ultimately he was drawn into "contemporary politics" because of his defense of Franciscan practices and his condemnation of persistent papal claims to theocratic power (90-91). Indeed, each of the principal authors may be considered a political writer precisely because each inhabited, responded to, and wrote within a highly politicized milieu. Anyone familiar with Dante's personal history, for example, should not be surprised that, in Falkeid's words, Dante became a strong critic of "unlimited monarchical power" (51). Likewise, it is unsurprising that Marsilius, as a university-educated scholar with a particular affinity for Aristotelian philosophy, came to offer a profound critique of the Avignon Papacy.
Yet, Falkeid limits neither her arguments nor the medieval sources to the principal works noted above. Her narrative incorporates many other political and religious authors and individuals. In Chapter One, for instance, as she contrasts Dante's Paradiso VI with his Monarchia, Falkeid makes reference to a number of other medieval sources, including Gratian's Decretum, and Pope Boniface VIII's bull Unam Sanctam (26). Later she uses both Unam Sanctam (162-163) and Thomas Aquinas' ideas on Corpus Christi (147-148) in her discussion of Catherine's letters. Such comparisons and connections take many forms in this study. Falkeid highlights a very different type of connection in the figure Alfonso de Vadeterra, Brigitta's and Catherine's mutual confessor (146). Similarly, both Ockham and Marsilius served in the court of Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria (2).
The comparisons made among these authors, as well as their contemporaries, reinforce two related conclusions within this larger study on the Avignon Papacy. The ideas and motivations of the six authors emphasize the striking similarities of their lives and the political communities in which they lived. Alongside these parallels, however, are remarkable differences in intellectual intent and even belief that are evident through their written legacy. Among the similarities, each author conveyed strong views about temporal power, whether wielded by the papal court or by an emperor. A less-expected commonality is that these authors traveled quite extensively during their lifetimes. Birgitta appears to have been the most well-traveled, having journeyed from Sweden to Spain, France, Jerusalem, and Italy. By comparison, Catherine possibly traveled the least among this group, though this is not surprising given her health restrictions and her early death. Even so, she managed to travel throughout central and northern Italy, from Italy to Avignon, and finally to Rome, ultimately journeying much further afield than most people of her time. Another commonality among many of these authors was their association with, and support of, the Franciscans. The volume highlights the broad influence of the Franciscans on both contemporary piety and papal politics. While Dante, Marsilius, and Birgitta each had notable connections to the Friars Minor, Ockham--as a Franciscan himself--represents most clearly the relevance of this preaching order in the fourteenth century. Not only does Falkeid begin her study with the story of the flight from Avignon of Ockham and several leading Franciscans (1, 76, 81), her third chapter elaborates on the specific contexts in which Ockham criticized the papacy. He strongly criticized "papal interventions in the Franciscan friars' voluntary poverty," a papal criticism that he felt was heretical (76). Moreover, Falkeid's discussion of Ockham's response to the papal efforts on behalf of its own plenitudo postestatis is particularly poignant and helps explain Ockham's extreme criticism of the papacy (83-85).
In addition to their commonalties, these six authors also present distinct variety in their personal motivations and in their Christian beliefs, especially within the context of contemporary political power. These differences are to be expected. Not only did these authors originate in different regions of medieval Europe, they bore distinctly different roles in society. Thus, Falkeid's comparison of a Swedish aristocrat to an Oxford-educated Franciscan to the daughter of a probable dye maker offers (to use a very modern term) a welcome global context to twenty-first-century studies of fourteenth-century society. In addition to different political stances--such as the basis of their criticism of the Avignon papacy--these individuals did have specific disagreements with each other (even if these were not actually articulated in person). As opposed to Petrarch, Birgitta was highly critical of the bishop of Milan (121). Similarly, Ockham was ultimately a severe critic of papal power because of its infringement on the free will of humans (passim), while Birgitta defended both the terrestrial and juridical power of the papacy (140).
In addition to the larger themes of this volume, this work also benefits scholarship in subtler ways. The range of literary and documentary genres examined here is quite broad, with medieval sources as divergent as Dante's poetry, theological texts, Catherine's letters, canon law via Gratian, Ockham's treatise, Birgitta's visions, and papal letters. Fortunately, Falkeid discounts none of them and is therefore able to offer a nuanced guide by which different forms of medieval literature and documentary evidence may be compared and used in modern scholarship. Indeed, her own analyses are stronger for using such a diverse group of sources. And finally, Falkeid introduces a number of historical subjects that reinforce the complexity of this period. These include contemporary ideals of illness and disease (61), the Guelph-Ghibelline political rivalry expressed in both the Empire and Italy (passim), and the fascinating career of Cola di Rienzo (esp. 98ff.). Although these remain subordinate to her primary focus of examining the contested political and theological elements of the Avignon Papacy, they serve to emphasize the complexity of the fourteenth century and this study of it.
In short, reading and studying this work is fruitful for both the academic scholar--whether medievalist or early modernist--and for the student who strives to understand this complex period of European history. Through the voices of her six protagonists, Falkeid offers a nuanced and fresh discussion of fourteenth-century views on political and theological power within the context of the Avignon Papacy.